But before our beach vacation can truly begin, we must first brave the 8.5 hour drive. We have very little experience traveling with Roscoe. Our one and only road trip was a 3.5 hour drive to Fort Lewis Lodge and, if you remember, it actually took 7 hours. This does not bode well for us.
An unhappy Roscoe is a most unpleasant thing, particularly when he's confined by a car seat. Our first line of defense will be to break up the drive into two 4.25 hour stretches, and we're planning to spend the night somewhere along the way. Our second line of defense will be to leave in the evening after Roscoe's bedtime routine which should guarantee that he sleeps most, if not all, of the way. Our third line of defense will be to stock the car with his favorite toys, books, snacks, and good tunes (our current favorites are Caspar Babypants and Picnic Playground).
If all else fails, we are not opposed to pit stops--don't be surprised if 8.5 hours turns into 24.
Do you have any tips for keeping little ones entertained on the road?
My entire family lives out of state so we have been forced to travel with EJ and he HATES it. We now treat bedtime the same and even put to bed in his crib while we pack the car and then leave or wake up at like 4 am and drive. He sleeps and we drink coffee and then when we arrive we make someone watch him while we nap. Its been a life savor for us simply because EJ is dramatic and will scream the entire way if he is pissed.
ReplyDeleteGood luck to you guys! We've found that leaving at 4am works much better than leaving in the evening. Do you guys have a portable DVD player? You may want to try that, Jackson never got into his... he's too busy to slow down to watch a show:)
ReplyDeleteBring lots of snacks!!! Have a wonderful time:)
Please follow up and tell us how the travel went...! Should have talked to you before but Griff and I broke down and bought a DVD player. I don't like seeing little miss with tv bug eyes but she rather liked the rotation of baby dvds. Griff prefers starting in the afternoon. We have started out in the am before but we end up making many more stops.
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